Sunday, December 5, 2021

Book Review: Wild Seas

I am all about a good gift book and National Geographic is BRINGING it this year. You could probably get a book for every person on your shopping list and the best part? Books are super easy to wrap, am I right?? 

Wild Seas - Thomas Peschak

From gregarious gray whales plying the waters of Baja California to acrobatic manta rays in the Maldives and parading penguins in Antarctica, National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak has spent a lifetime documenting the beauty and fragility of underwater life and the majesty of wild coastlines.

This awe-inspiring book of photography charts his transformation from marine biologist to full-time conservation advocate, armed with little more than a mask, fins and a camera. In these vivid pages, Peschak photographs sharks in a feeding frenzy, tracks sea turtles the size of bears, and dodges marine poachers, to reveal the splendor of pristine seas as well as the dark side of pollution, overfishing, and climate change.

Filled with magnificent images from Southern Africa, the Galápagos, Seychelles, and more, this illuminating collection offers an impassioned case for revering—and preserving—the world’s oceans.
 
I have to start by saying the picture of a bunch of penguins swimming on page 114 rocked Lucy's world. If you know Lucy in real life, you know she's a penguin fanatic and nobody knows why, and she now wants a penguin for a pet. 

Not surprisingly, Matt says absolutely not. 

Also, there is a photo on page 123 of a Cape gannet bird and it is flying directly at the camera and it is terrifying. 

I don't know if it's obvious yet that the section on seabirds was my favorite, but it is what it is. I'm a fan of seabirds. The photos in this book are, quite possibly, the best photos I have EVER seen in any National Geographic book, and if you know NatGeo at all you know that's a pretty major statement. Not surprisingly, Thomas Peschak is one of National Geographic's most popular photographers and this book showcases that start to finish. 

I loved that the book shows us all of the beauty and the best of the oceans and seas around the world, making you feel incredibly tiny and insignificant, but also the destruction that humans are causing. I went through this book learning new things, but also learning more about things I already knew, while at the same time having the point that there is a whole lot about our planet we don't know anything about driven home. 

The book is broken up over seven sections: Sea Turtles, Manta Rays, Seabirds, Sharks, Sardines, Galapagos, and Conservation. I already mentioned the Seabirds section was my favorite, but if there was ever a section to keep me firmly out of the water all together, it would be the Galapagos section. The subtitle? Dragons and Vampires. Just..... just don't read that if you are planning a tropical bitch vacation anytime soon because it will ruin it for you because it is full of creatures nightmares are made of. To think all of those, and so many more we don't even know about, and just..... swimming around under water? NOPE. A whole bunch of nope, nope, nope. 

This book was wild, y'all- I so highly recommend it. Thank you to TLC Book Tours and National Geographic for having me on this tour and sending me a copy for review. I'm going to stick to pools, I'm just throwing that out there. 

*This post contains affiliate links. *

No comments: